My Mind full of Miniatures

After visiting my first fair, two things became clear to me. First, there were even more beautiful accessories out there than I had initially imagined (crockery! pottery! silverware!) . And second, that Huyze Herkert had limited space to offer. As there was nothing I could do about the latter, I had to come up with some clever solutions to maximize the available display space. Originally I had planned walls with a wide opening between the morning room and the music room on the one hand, and between the music room and the drawing room on the other hand. Then I came across this image: This is George Aitchison's design for the Arab Hall at Leighton House. And there are cabinets around the door! (This felt like a hallelujah moment.) What if I narrowed the walls and filled the extra space with open divider cabinets fitted with shelves for miniatures? I built the cabinets from wood (structure) and 2 mm heavy cardboard (shelves), finished with a mahogany wood stain. To give the cab...

In July, I wrote about my struggle to find the right wall covering for my morning room. I changed my mind several times. The parrot wallpaper I had originally planned was eventually replaced by plain green wallpaper. I thought I was finally done with it. Well, not quite! Betsy ( https://aboutmydollhouses.blogspot.com/ ) encouraged me to give the parrot wallpaper another chance. Just to be clear, I’m talking about this wallpaper: I’m glad she did! Although I have to admit, it took me a while to take her advice on board. The turning point came when I put everything I had collected so far for the morning room into the room and added the wall sconces. It felt like a collection of unrelated elements. There was no sense of unity. And everything pink felt out of place. (Sigh.) Well… understandably, since the parrot wallpaper had been the starting point for all the choices I had already made: the bird theme, the pink fireplace, the accessories I had bought or made… Okay, let’s take a st...

I’ve just spent four inspiring days in the Netherlands. The main purpose of my trip was the Dollhouses Miniatures Fair in Utrecht on Saturday, but I added a few extra days to visit historic country estates and museums in the neighborhood. So make yourself comfortable, because this is going to be a long read. On Thursday, I visited Paleis Het Loo. This is a 17th-century palace belonging to the House of Orange, the Dutch royal family. It has two wings. One is entirely 17th-century and was furnished by William and Mary (yes, the William and Mary who became King and Queen of England), its first inhabitants. The furnishings in the other wing date from the 19th and 20th centuries. Personally, I found the latter the most impressive. The following day, I spent at the Netherlands Open Air Museum. It has around a hundred historic buildings: real houses, farmhouses and workshops, some of them up to four hundred years old, which were relocated here. Complete with their original interiors. Abs...